My Thoughts On The Slow Demise Of Blogging

16/03/18

You might have noticed that things have been a bit slow over on the ol’ blog of late. And yes OK I’ve just had a baby so yes that’s been a large part of why I’ve not had time to be like DAILY BLOG POSTS GO GO GO, but also, well – and this is a biggie to admit – I’m just not that into blogs anymore.

Dun dun dun.

Let me explain.

My blog peaked in oooh, about 2014. We were in a short but sweet online bubble of all being obsessed with sharing list articles on the internet – especially on Facebook. OMG LOL THIS IS SO ME YOU MUST ALL READ IT BECAUSE IT MADE ME DO A WEE AT MY DESK.

Buzzfeed started it, and those of us fast enough to go hang on, I think they’re onto something, jumped on the bandwagon.

(Although spoiler, I did actually have a blog dedicated entirely to ‘listicles’ back when I was twenty and at uni but let’s not veer too far away from my point.)

At the height of this blog’s traffic success I had 1.5 million page views in one day (thanks largely to this post) and I thought, fuck me, I’ve made it. Let me just sit back on my purple velvet throne and watch the dollars roll in.

But, as has happened with the internet time and time again, people’s habits shifted. The way they consumed information and content online changed, and suddenly they weren’t sharing list posts as much, probably because they were tired of seeing so bloody many of them.

And so, whilst I continued to publish the odd list post, I mixed it up with other content – fashion, beauty, home, travel, and lots of real-life stuff, because that seemed to do mildly well too.

And, here’s where I’m going to say something that you’re not supposed to admit publicly.

You ready?

Deep breath.

My blog traffic has been in slow decline ever since.

Lol.

To begin with I was like hang on, WHAT AM I DOING WRONG?! But then I looked at the bigger picture.

Do I read blogs regularly? Fuck do I.

I mean yes, if I see something that catches my eye on Twitter or Instagram, I’ll click through. But do I sit and scroll through Bloglovin looking for a nice post to read? Absolutely not.

Because, and I don’t know about you, but I have become hideously lazy at consuming content.

Gone are the days when I’d schlep off to the shop for Mizz magazine and then spend an afternoon devouring every sentence to grace their pages.

Now I want things delivered to me in a flash.

Instead of reading 500 words and looking at 17 images of one outfit, I want to look at one image of said outfit, then skim read the 50-word caption and then tap to see where everything is from.

Instead of sitting through a 30-minute vlog with a cup of tea, I want to skip through someone’s stories and get a full update on their day in about… oooh, three seconds.

It’s shit. I know it’s shit.

When you pour your heart and soul into crafting words and images, you want people to stop and take the time to read it and to enjoy it. Heck, you want to support others in the same way. You want to give videos and blog posts the time and attention they deserve.

But the reality is very different. We are time poor and we don’t actually want to work for content in the pockets of time we do have.

Flash of wifi on the Tube? Just refresh Instagram. Quick phone pit-stop whilst you pee? Just refresh Instagram. Little bit of phone time before you get out of bed? Just refresh Instagram.

It’s how I know what beauty products to try next or what national day it is. It’s where I get outfit ideas from or how I know what the weather’s like. It’s how I hear about celeb pregnancies and find out what the best Oscar dresses were.

It is micro-blogging (and micro-vlogging) at its finest thanks to lengthy captions and Instagram stories.

It’s become a place where I digest tiny chunks of news, tiny chunks of fashion, tiny chunks of beauty and tiny chunks of real-life. And, thanks to being able to follow and unfollow who I please, it’s tailored to me. It is my very own 2018 women’s lifestyle magazine.

And I can’t deny it, I absolutely fucking love it.

Instagram is my home gal – and she’s the place I get the most engagement, the place I see the most ‘brand’ growth and the place I receive the most commercial opportunities from.

She’s also the place that’s easiest for me to upload to considering I’m extra time poor right now, and she’s the digital space that I’m genuinely enjoying the most right now.

And so, because of that, she’s where I’m laying my focus this year. She’s the social network and content space that I’m nurturing the most.

My blog will still be here and I’ll (fingers crossed) still be uploading regular content, but she won’t be my all, the way she once was, because when it comes down to it – it just doesn’t make sense. Not from a business perspective, not from a time management perspective and not from an enjoyment perspective.

So yeah, all of the above.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to upload to Insta stories (you can catch me over at @hannahfgale). See ya.